Howie
I said that I wanted to pay tribute to some of the unforgettable people who worked at Idora Park. Howie was one of those characters that I will never, ever forget. From what I understand, his brothers were all just as wild as he was.
It was my second full season at Idora Park, and they needed some help with the Skee-Ball game. I volunteered. Why not? I loved Skee-Ball. I still love Skee-Ball. In fact, I take my grandchildren to Chuck E. Cheese’s and Tilt Studios so I can play Skee-Ball. It’s not the only reason I go there, but it is a big one.
Howie was about 5’9-5’10 with blond hair and blue eyes. Need I say more? As you might have guessed, girls liked Howie, and the feeling was mutual. If the feeling was very mutual, the two of them would go into the back room and play “Seven Minutes in Heaven,” sometimes for longer than seven minutes. If I spotted one of the bosses walking up the Midway, I would head them off before they got to us.
One day, George Goodman surprise me. He was walking up the Midway pretty fast, and I told Howie (who was in the back room), “Hey! I hate to interrupt you but you got to get rid of that girl. George wants to talk to you.”
He told me to signal the girl who worked across from us on the Midway.
“Why?” I asked.
“She’ll know why.”
So I did. That girl start walking over to George. She grabbed his hand and said, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
She angled her body so that George was facing her, and while she was doing that, Howie and a very pretty young lady walked out of the back room.
The girl from across the Midway told George, “Thanks, all right, that’s all I needed.”
And then George walked over to where Howie was smiling and I was standing there in awe of Howie’s James Bond-like skill in setting up that pre-arranged signal just so he could make out in the back room.
The one thing that really stands out in my memories of Howie is the way he used to blow his nose on these little plastic bags. We were just working one day, and I saw Howie grab one of the bags and used it like a tissue to blow his nose. I'm not sure there's much more I can say about that. Except that we never used that bag again.
Howie was a very good Skee-Ball player. He's the one who showed me how to bounce the Skee-Balls on the side of the machine to get a higher score. I still use that trick to impress my grandkids. Howie also showed me the trick to talking to girls. You just walk up to a girl and talk to her. That's all you have to do.
One day was kind of slow and we were talking. He asked me if I knew anyone from around here where he lived.
I said, “Yeah, I know a few people. A couple of girls I know live up there.”
“You should meet this one girl,” he said. “Man, she is really cute and really stacked. Man, we love playing tackle football with this girl.” Then he told me her name and asked if I knew her.
“Yeah, I know her,” I said with a straight face. “She’s my girlfriend.”
“Are you kidding?”
“Nope. I realize she’s a bit of a tomboy.”
“Man,” Howie said. “You’re a lucky guy. We always heard that she had a boyfriend, but nobody ever got to see him.”
“Well,” I said, “Now you have.” Apparently, I was a legend and I didn’t even know it.
Summers working at Idora Park were always interesting and fun with Howie. As I said, I grew up working at Idora Park, and Howie gave me quite an "education."
Thanks, Howie. I hope to see you at the Idora Park Employees Reunion.